You’re probably familiar with the most famous Wyatt Johnston origin story. It’s the one about how he lives with Joe Pavelski, how he has become like a second son to the Pavelski family, how it helped him become one of the NHL’s best rookies last year as a 19-year-old and avoid smacking into the proverbial rookie wall, too.
As long as that living arrangement is in place, it will be a talking point on broadcasts and in stories about the Stars. It will likely follow him throughout his career, as it has for Pittsburgh legend Sidney Crosby after he lived with the iconic Mario Lemiuex at the start of his own NHL journey.
There’s another Johnston story, however, one that often gets forgotten when discussing his career trajectory but explains plenty about the growth of his game in his second NHL season.
Johnston’s Stars journey started on February 11, 2021, months before the organization selected him in that year’s NHL draft. On that day, the Stars and USA Hockey finalized a deal to host the 2021 Under-18 IIHF World Championships in Frisco and Plano. It was a relationship of convenience. USA Hockey needed a host with relaxed COVID restrictions, and the Stars were eager to earn the prestige that comes with hosting an IIHF event.
There were on-ice benefits, too. That tournament provided the Stars’ top brass a chance to watch some of the best prospects in the world for two weeks inside their own practice facility, a massive scouting advantage at a time when some of the game’s best prospects had their seasons curtailed or derailed entirely due to the pandemic.
By virtue of playing in the Ontario-based OHL, which canceled its 2020-21 season, Johnston was one of those prospects. He didn’t play a league game between March 12, 2020, and the NHL Draft on July 23, 2021. In fact, over a stretch of more than 500 days, the only eight games Johnston played during his draft year came during the Under-18s in Frisco.
That’s when Johnston popped onto the Stars radar.
Offensively, he didn’t do much; he only had four points in the tournament. But the Stars fell in love with his overall game. Johnston was the versatile forward who did things others wouldn’t in the tournament, things plenty of teenagers with clout cannot or do not think to execute. He centered the checking line, took late-game defensive zone draws, and played more of a defensive game on a team that featured other future NHL top prospects such as Connor Bedard, Shane Wright, and fellow future Stars draftee Logan Stankoven.
Dallas saw all of it and saw through the pedestrian production that tripped up outside evaluators. So in the 2021 NHL Draft, when the Detroit Red Wings wanted to trade up to No. 15 to pick a goalie, the Stars willingly moved back to No. 21 and took Johnston, confident that he’d still be available after other NHL organizations didn’t have access to what they did.
Johnston became the steal of the draft. When the OHL returned to play during the 2021-22 season, he was the league MVP and top scorer. As a rookie in Dallas last season, while living with Pavelski, he scored 24 goals.
In a rather prophetic way, D Magazine predicted Johnston would avoid a sophomore slump, but not even Johnston would have predicted he’d lead the Stars in goals and be second in points after 15 games.
Yet here he is, performing as the Stars’ most consistent forward at 20 years old, playing a crucial role at even strength and on both special teams units. This past weekend, in back-to-back games against the Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild, Johnston led the Stars to a pair of victories with five points in less than 30 hours.
He needed fewer than 100 career games—he played his 97th on Tuesday in a 4-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes—to shed his label as one of the Stars’ best young players. He’s simply one of their best, period. No modifiers needed.
And this is where the sliding scale of expectations comes into play. For the first time in his pro career, the 20-year-old is no longer able to hide under the radar, or jump up and surprise.
He’s learned the league. His improvement on faceoffs from one season to next–from 43.3 percent to 46.0 percent–is quantifiable proof of that, and his confidence shooting is visual evidence of his belief he belongs.
But the league is also well aware of Johnston, too. He’s no longer the young unknown on scouting reports. Opposing players and coaches are well aware of who he is and his tendencies. Those same opponents have internal discussions plotting to slow down Johnston’s dynamic line with Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov.
And this is the space where his residency with Pavelski could take the next, and potentially most valuable, step.
While it doesn’t hurt, Pavelski’s career longevity isn’t built on being one of the NHL’s best net-front presences. His staying power is rooted in consistency, and how Pavelski has attained it while perpetually evolving to a game getting faster than he is. The 39-year-old will readily admit he’s a slow skater, but that hasn’t stopped him from thriving alongside one of the fastest stride-for-stride skaters in the world in Roope Hintz. In the offensive zone, Pavelski has expanded his net-front spacing in Dallas, becoming more of a rover on the power play than he ever was with San Jose. As the NHL has evolved, Pavelski’s game has subtly evolved with it.
At some point, Johnston will have to find his own evolution. His mentor is a beacon for how to navigate that challenge, and Johnston’s offensive strides are proof that he’s already adapting, just like he did two years ago in that youth tournament in Frisco.
But there will be more challenges, both on the ice and off of it. The expectations will mushroom as Johnston continues to ascend among the grouping of the organization’s core pieces like Hintz, Miro Heiskanen, Jason Robertson, and Jake Oettinger. He will be subjected to criticism that rarely accompanies players still six months away from being able to drink legally in the United States, because players this young are rarely this poised.
This is a good thing. It’s a reminder that already, at the beginning of his second NHL season, Johnston is no longer next.
He’s now.
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